PWSN II: A Track-By-Track Review

by Sarah Thomson

poorly wrote suicide note is a screamo project created by Ashley P. She released a self-titled album on June 23, 2023, and has been an important figure in new-gen screamo ever since. Her split with bright little stars, released in August 2023, was a highlight which made me very excited for her future work. Pwsn ii is a follow-up to this original self-titled album. In pwsn ii, she maintains her style of incorporating sound bites, distortion, and a distinctive vocal style while using new elements, such as ambient noise. The album is full of gnashing of teeth with softer acoustic interludes.

The intro track, “these days are beautiful”, is a simple guitar piece with spoken lyrics that read like a diary entry. The lyrics talk about change with time and change with seasons along with home which sets the theme for the rest of the album. This transitions into “captive bolt”, one of the strongest tracks on the album. The use of heavy distortion while the track remains melodic works well with the harsh vocals. I really like how the song moves between soft and loud to give the listener time to process what they’ve heard and ties it back to the intro with the same acoustic riff. Next, “in the pasture” is an acoustic segment for the first minute before bringing it back to the distortion and harsh vocals for the second minute. The next track, “home”, is 40 seconds of ambient noise which break up the first half of the album from the rest. Immediately after, “specter” comes in quickly with the use of chiptune and heavy distortion.

“respite” has everything I like about an acoustic screamo song with its changes of intensity and its acoustic guitar contradicting harsh vocals. I find acoustic screamo tracks to be very effective because the simplicity of the instrumentals highlights the emotion and rawness of the vocals. Other projects such as departmefrombearisland do this very well. “secrets you died with” is another stand-out track. It continues to use chiptune elements but also incorporates more electronic distorted sounds that complement the vocals very well. “pulse” is another acoustic track on the album and one of my favorites. Even though it is a simpler track and has a softer vocal style, it feels very genuine and beautiful. “jibberish” is mainly noise along with a looped sample that transitions to the standard guitar and harsh vocals. “winter song” has the same chiptune but also adds an amen break as a backing in some sections, and features a variety of vocals and instrumentals of varying intensity. “autumn leaves” is a pretty transition into the end of the album, which I found to be its weakest part. “all goes falling” is a cute softer track, “film credits” is a minute long with a lot of overlapping segments, and the finale, “shed your skin like leaves on autumn trees”, is two softer songs split up by around 11 minutes of harsh noise.

As a whole, the album is very well ordered and a really cool listening experience. My top tracks were “captive bolt”, “secrets you died with”, and “pulse”. “captive bolt” and “secrets you died with” both showcased newer noise elements while keeping a strong vocal and instrumental base. “pulse” is an acoustic track that has everything I love about acoustic screamo and does a great job of shifting the volume of instrumentals with the intensity of vocals and builds. I saw other reviews saying that this album wasn’t serious or was trying to make a joke out of itself but I strongly disagree. All the tracks are extremely genuine and you can tell there was a lot of effort put into them. Pwsn ii is a great winter album with waves of sound that both numb and warm you, showcasing everything that Ashley is good at and providing a good base for future work.